The lie of imperialism reading George Orwell’s Burmese days

Abstract

We want to propose some schemes for reading George Orwell's first fictional work, Burmese days, published in 1934. Even though this author's name is inexorably linked to the theme of totalitarianism, which served as material for his last and best-known works, such as Animal farm and 1984, it seems possible to already identify in the 1934-novel some aspects that will become crucial for the orwellian dissection of the totalitarian phenomenon, especially the systemic use of lies and the way in which the destruction of truth and the so-called reality objective prepares and feeds the phenomenon of servitude that can be understood as voluntary servitude. So, realizing that in Burmese days the British Empire is fundamentally understood and presented as a system of lies that involves and corrupts both natives e colonizers, it will be possible to uncover a deep secret relationship between imperialism and totalitarianism.